Untitled Satire From Charlie Kaufman And Spike Jonze Nears Financing Deal
OK, we really need to send a giant ‘thank you’ bouquet toMegan Ellison. Her company, Annapurna Pictures, is reportedlyfinancingtwo Paul Thomas Anderson films (The MasterandInherent Vice) and isbackingWong Kar Wai’s new filmThe Grandmastersas well as pictures likeThe Wettest County in the WorldandCogan’s Trade. In short, if you like ambitious, literate films, she and her team are on your side.
Now the company is negotiating a deal for rights to “an untitled satire” that will mark the reunion ofBeing John MalkovichandAdaptationdirector and screenwriterSpike JonzeandCharlie Kaufman. Get a few more details after the break.
We talked a bit about this projectlast yearwhen the duo started taking it out to financiers.Deadlinenow says the deal is moving forward with Annapurna Pictures set to finance the production, and that the film is a satire “about how world leaders gather to figure out all the seismic events that will take place in the worlds, from oil prices to wars that will be waged.” That description somehow makes me think of something in the vein ofDr. Strangelove, but I know better than to make too many deep guesses about what the Jonze/Kaufman team might turn out.
But wait, there’s more!
Charlie Kaufman has his own directorial project, based on a script he wrote calledFrank or Francis, in which Frank, a movie director, has a long-running “back and forth” with blogger Francis, “who takes delight in berating his cinematic talent.” It was at Sony, but is reportedly out in the wild now, with big names (Meryl Streepis mentioned) being linked to roles. Sounds pretty ‘inside baseball,’ but Charlie Kaufman obviously likes that sort of thing, having dealt with various aspects of show business in three films. I don’t expect this would be quite as on the nose as the HBO seriesTilda, which was a thinly-veiled take on Deadline’s Nikki Finke.
